Don't Resend that Email! A Lesson in List Health and Performance
It has happened to all of us. We hit send on a campaign in our email list service, only to realize we're sending it to an email list riddled with inactive subscribers. The end result is low engagement and overall disappointment. Does resending the email to list members who haven't opened it do any good? In most cases, the answer is no. In fact, it can actually lead to decreased email list health and deliverability issues. In the second installment of this series, we will explain why you should think twice before hitting the "send" button again.
Why Old Email Lists are Hurting Your Engagement
Many marketers and businesses still rely on old, unattended email lists to promote their product or service. While this may not seem like a problem it may become one, if outdated lists may contain unengaged members whose inactivity can seriously affect your open and click-through rates.
First and foremost, an old email list is less likely to convert into paying customers or subscribers than a newer one. This is because people change over time: they change jobs, update their contact information, or simply grow tired of receiving marketing emails from you. As a result, your open and click-through rates will inevitably decline as your list gets older.
Additionally, inactive list members can actually damage your sender reputation and deliverability. If subscribers on your list are no longer interested in what you have to say, they're much more likely to mark your emails as spam. This hurts your chances of reaching their inbox in the future and reflects poorly on your brand as a whole.
Finally, it's important to remember that an outdated email list may result in a high bounce rate due to inactive or closed email accounts. That means low response rates and lost business as the intended users are not receiving targeted messages. Also, if your email list provider charges according to the number of contacts in your list, you may be paying more than you need to by keeping inactive members.
Email Scrubbing and Why Specificity Increases ROI
Email scrubbing is the process of removing invalid or undeliverable email addresses from your list. This is important because invalid or undeliverable email addresses on your list can negatively impact your sender reputation and deliverability, which can, in turn, decrease your ROI.
One way to ensure that you have a clean list is to use a domain suppression service like the one offered by Admail. This service will help you identify and remove any inactive or blacklisted email addresses.
It's also important to follow best practices for maintaining your email list. This includes regularly verifying opt-ins and unsubscribes and keeping an up-to-date contact list. Failing to do so can put you at risk of landing in a spam folder and being ignored by your audience altogether.
One of the problems with old, unused lists is that they may contain abandoned email addresses that have been repurposed as "honeypots" for spammers and other malicious actors. As a result, you may be inadvertently sending your marketing emails to honeypot addresses meant to catch spammers -- therefore compromising your own sender reputation and deliverability.
Finally, spam filters rely on blocklists/blacklists and other reputation-based data to help catch and stop spam. However, these lists only work if they're kept up-to-date. Old, unused lists can actually do more harm than good by including false positives and false negatives. This can lead to valid emails being blocked or spam getting through.
The Importance of Following Best Practices to Keep a Clean List
When it comes to email marketing, one of the most important things to keep in mind is the quality of your list. A clean list full of engaged members is essential for a successful campaign.
There are a number of best practices you can follow to keep your list clean and members engaged. Make sure you're only collecting opt-ins from people who are actually interested in hearing from you. Do not add people to your list without their consent. This will quickly lead to high levels of complaints and could even get you blacklisted by ISPs.
Once someone is on your list, it's essential to keep them engaged. Send them interesting and relevant content that they'll want to read, and make it easy to unsubscribe if they're no longer interested. Regular List Hygiene will scrub your list of inactive subscribers and will help keep your open and click-through rates high. List Hygiene will also ensure you only send emails to subscribers who want to receive them. By taking steps such as cleaning up old or inactive lists, using double opt-ins when inviting new list members, and regularly reviewing your current contact records, you can help ensure your email marketing efforts are successful and achieve your business goals.
If you're looking to really maximize your email marketing efforts, you'll want to use Admail's Smartgroups feature. This powerful tool allows you to segment your lists into groups based on criteria you set, making it easy to send targeted, relevant messages to each group.
Not only does this ensure that your messages are more likely to be read and acted upon, but it also saves you time and effort in the long run. You won't have to manually create and manage separate lists for each segment of your audience.
Admail's Domain Suppression Services
Email marketing is a powerful tool, but only when your list is healthy and performing well. Remember it is important to follow best practices for list management and hygiene, you can keep your lists clean and ensure your messages are getting through to engaged subscribers.
[Sign up for a free 30-day trial] (https://www.admail.net/join.php) of Admail's domain suppression services to see how their tools can help you take your email marketing to the next level.
The next article in this series will examine the myth that email lists don't need to be segmented to be effective. Stay tuned to keep debunking these myths with us!